Olaf Gustave Hazard "Curly" Oden (May 10, 1899 – August 3, 1978) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

and

punt returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for the

Providence Steam Roller The Providence Steam Rollers (also referred to as the Providence Steam Roller, the Providence Steamroller and the Providence Steamrollers) were a professional American football team based in Providence, Rhode Island in the National Football Leagu ...

and the

Boston Braves The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. This article details the history of the Boston Braves, from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta. During it ...

Biography

A native of

Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropoli ...

, Oden attended

Classical High School Classical High School, founded in 1843, is a public magnet school in the Providence School District, in Providence, Rhode Island. It was originally an all-male school but has since become co-ed. Classical's motto is ''Certare, Petere, Reperire, ...

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

, where he captained the school's

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

team in 1917, and remained a fixture in Rhode Island hockey throughout the 1920s. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, scoring eight touchdowns and passing for five more as a senior. Also a star

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

, Oden was invited to a tryout for the major league

Brooklyn Robins The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, Californi ...

. He graduated from Brown in 1921, and was inducted into the university's athletic hall of fame in 1971. Oden's NFL career began with Providence in 1925, and he soon became a star player. He was a member of the Steam Roller's 1928 league championship squad, and played with Providence through 1931. He played a single game with the NFL's Boston Braves in 1932, his final professional season. In his career, Oden rushed for eight touchdowns, caught four more in the air, passed for two, and scored five on kickoff and punt returns, a league record at the time. From 1926 to 1928, Oden played summer baseball for Falmouth in the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

. An all-league shortstop who also managed the team in 1927 and 1928, Oden was known for his "timely hitting and accurate throwing," and was "the king of the base stealers in the league," having "thrilled the crowds on several occasions by stealing home."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oden, Curly 1899 births 1978 deaths Sportspeople from Stockholm Swedish emigrants to the United States Swedish players of American football American football running backs Brown Bears football players Boston Braves (NFL) players Providence Steam Roller players Cape Cod Baseball League players (pre-modern era) Cape Cod Baseball League coaches Falmouth Commodores players Classical High School alumni